Page 55 of Well Aware

He had his phone to his ear, and he was reading something off to whomever he had on the phone.

When I got to his side, he said, “5P91.”

I looked at him, really studied him, and realized he was vibrating with anger.

“Fits the description of the vehicle that nearly killed her yesterday.”

I inhaled swiftly and looked back at the car that I could barely see now.

“I know it’s her,” he said, his voice sounding raw and horrified. “Black, it’s her.”

The car finally disappeared out of sight, and I leaned in and caught Beau’s hand in mine.

His hand closed so tight around mine that I almost winced.

His face turned, and his eyes were…broken.

He looked like he’d just had his soul stolen.

I brought his hand up to my mouth and kissed it.

But Beau’s next words were shattered. “She needs to go to jail before I kill her.”

Those words weren’t for me.

But I chose to take them as such.

I leaned into his body and placed my hand over his mouth. “Shhh, don’t repeat that aloud ever again.”

Why was I okay with his declaration?

Yes, if it was true, that woman had almost killed my child.

But I shouldn’t be okay with murder.

Yet, as I studied his face, my hand still covering his mouth, I realized that there wasn’t much this man could do that would ever scare me away.

Cold-blooded murder?

Meh. As long as he was in bed with me at the end of the night, I could overlook it.

THIRTEEN

Not likely to comply.

—Beau’s secret thoughts

BEAU

I’d dropped them off at home, even though every instinct in my body screamed at me to keep them close.

I went to bed early, my mind exhausted and jumbled as I thought about ways to kill my sister without getting pinned for it.

By the time that I woke up the next morning, my mind wasn’t in a better place.

My first thought was to head to Magnolia’s house to find out how Iris made it through the night.

But that would be the wrong choice.